As Weinstein trial begins in N.Y., new charges filed in L.A.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged film producer Harvey Weinstein with rape and other sex crimes involving two women, even as his trial on similar charges began in New York City on Monday.
The new criminal complaint was announced in Los Angeles just hours after Weinstein, who recently had back surgery, hobbled into a Manhattan courtroom with a walker for the start of his rape trial there.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said Weinstein had been charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another woman in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013.
He faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted.
In New York City, dozens of protesters gathered outside the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, including several actresses who have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, holding signs with slogans such as “justice for survivors” and “coercion is not consent.”
In the courtroom, Justice James Burke dealt a blow to Weinstein’s defense, ruling that it cannot call as a witness a disgraced detective who was accused of withholding evidence from prosecutors that was favorable to the defense.
Weinstein’s lawyers had hoped to call the detective, Nicholas DiGaudio, as part of an effort to cast doubt on the New York City Police Department investigation of Weinstein.
Jury selection in the trial will begin Tuesday.
Six women are expected to testify about sexual encounters with Weinstein, though the criminal charges hinge on allegations made by two of them.
Weinstein is charged with raping one woman, who has not been identified in court documents, at a Manhattan hotel in March 2013 and forcing a second woman, Mimi Haleyi, a production assistant, to allow him to perform oral sex on her at his apartment in Manhattan in 2006.
He faces one count of rape and one count of criminal sexual act in those cases. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison.
Weinstein maintains that his sexual encounters with the women were consensual.
The producer also faces a charge of predatory sexual assault for committing a serious sex crime against more than one person. If he is convicted of that charge, Weinstein faces a maximum of life in prison.